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DAY 6: It’s Frickin’ Hot: Coffee Ice Cubes & Coffee Popsicles

It’s been hot here in the Bay Area this week. Not pretend Bay Area “hot” but actual, legitimate hot. It was 88 yesterday which, for April, is hot. AND I think from my 1 min of internet research it was possibly one of the hottest temps in the country yesterday. maybe.

Well, even on hot days I require copious amounts of coffee to run my daily routine. It’s kinda like a drip line… I brew a large pot and just chip away at it throughout the day. Lukewarm? Whatevs, it works.

EXPERIMENT 1: COFFEE ICE CUBES
Well this is one of those DUH, why haven’t I done this before kinda moments. Monday at the school coffee cart, one eager coffee cart volunteer went above and beyond with a cooler full of these to plunk into your coffee. Brilliant.

I brewed a pot of coffee, let it cool, then poured most into a plastic container and froze it overnight. I chilled the rest in a carafe in the fridge.

An ice cube tray would have been easier but I have a fridge that makes ice so I don’t even own a tray. I didn’t think it really mattered until I tried cutting the large frozen coffee brick down to cubes. Warming up the knife with hot water helped but I did end up with a bloody knuckle. Use a tray if you have one.

Then I just filled a jar with large coffee ice chunks, some soy creamer, and some cold coffee. So good, all the way until the end. No watered down effect with these cubes.

TIP: Mason jars with the lid make great travel mugs for iced coffee and other beverages.

EXPERIMENT 2: COFFEE POPSICLES

Coffee Vanilla Soy Creamer popsicles

Like I said, it’s a constant drip-line so why not amp it up a bit for the 4PM installment with a delicious Coffee Vanilla Soy Creamer popsicle.

Then just fill each with 1/3 coffee and freeze. Then add 1/3 creamer and freeze, then fill remainder with coffee and freeze. Pull it out and eat it. Easy!

I fumbled a bit in the concept, I wanted three layers: layer 1 coffee, layer 2 soy creamer, layer 3 coffee. Sharp Martha-percise lines. BUT, this requires you to have patience…I lack this. So rather than wait for each layer to freeze before pouring the next, I let them semi-freeze. It actually kinda worked better in the end. It didn’t have the same crisp brown and white lines I was hoping for, but it tasted really good mixed up together. Coffee and cream in each lick.

Both frozen coffee experiments were a success. I’ll stick with the cubes regularly and make the popsicles occasionally.